Imagine if one fine day our government decided that music be banned from Australian Radio. What would we do? Protest, complain through CRA? And if the order came, not with threat of court proceedings and possible fines, but under pain of death, what would we do? What would you do? In Somalia’s capital, Mogadishu, of 16 FM radio stations, 14 have ceased to play music of any kind after religious extremists threatened to execute staff if they so much as broadcast a note.

The Guardian reports that only the government-controlled Radio Mogadishu, which is protected by African Union peacekeepers, and the UN-funded Radio Bar-Kulan, whose studio is in Nairobi, have been able to resist the order from the insurgents.

In Australia we have a robust democracy with Radio at the forefront, facilitating the free exchange of ideas, one of the ideals for which our forefathers went to war. To this day we continue to enjoy the liberty to pursue most forms of entertainment – albeit with some censorship that disqualifies only the most sordid of content.

It would be easy to dismiss the events of Mogadishu as the actions of a rogue band of rebels in a lawless land. But with ANZAC Day this week it seems a stark, timely reminder of the  RSL motto, “The Price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilance.“